30 Seconds to Mars has always had my attention since I first heard them back in middle school. Their album A Beautiful Lie, contains some of my all time favorite songs, like "The Kill", "Attack", and "From Yesterday", which I still love to this day. Their last album, This Is War, was easily my favorite by them however, with some fantastic songs like "Kings and Queens", "Night Of The Hunter", and the version of "Hurricane" featuring Kanye West. I loved epic feel the group reached on this album, and the potential they were exposing to the world.
Well, their newest album, Love Lust Faith + Dreams, took that potential, and shot off to the stars.
The album opener, "Birth", is easily one of the best album openers I've ever heard, hands down. The start with the simple drum beating, adding in the horn section with Jared Leto's vocals floating over, and the sticatto strings, leading into the build with more drums, electronic synths, and strings that creates a theatrical and truly epic sound. It is 100% 30 Seconds To Mars, but shows their willingness to expand with new types of sounds and ideas. "Birth" immediately leads into the fist pumping rock anthem "Conquistador", which you can easily tell that the band had fun making. I love the vocals, with the echoes added on the verses and the gang vocals used throughout. I also love, for some reason, the way he sings the word "conquistador" in the second verse; it just sounds cool, to be honest. The song has energy and is driving, but is incredibly creative and continues some of the ideas from "Birth", with a few string lines and some added synths in the verses. The energy is kept up in the next track and lead single, "Up In The Air", a synth-infused rock song. You can't help but tap your foot along to the beat as it pulses with Leto's voice screaming out accompanied by a choir on the chorus. I like that they brought back having the choir add parts to some of the songs; it was nice, however, to not have it on every single song. "Up In The Air" is one of the more electronically influenced songs on the album, with the pulsing synth line and electronic beat, yet still retaining the soul and essence of who the band is.
The album slows down for a few minutes with the ballad oriented "City of Angels", which is lead by the piano lines and more mellow drum rhythm. Jared's vocals are as spectacular as ever, soaring to incredible highs and getting down to those throaty lows. Even though this song isn't as fast paced as some of the others, it still manages to keep up the epic feel that flows through the entire album. A fantastic example of the epic feel can be found in the next song, "The Race". The fast paced violin intro gives it a soundtrack feel, as well as the steady bass drum beat and the briefly added choir. The song keeps a generally low key sound until it hits the chorus, where the sound explodes as more drums are added with the usual children's choir backing up Jared's vocals. It all comes together to create a vibrant and energetic sound, especially when it hits the brief breakdown in the bridge that incorporates a roaring guitar line to bring it back for a final epic chorus. The next song, "End Of All Days", was probably the song that grabbed my attention the least on the album. It's actually one of the better examples of Jared's incredible vocals, but the song itself just doesn't interest me as much. It comprised mostly of the piano, synths, and the drums, and has a more melancholy vibe to it. The song after it, however, might be my favorite from the album. "Pyres of Varanasi" is an instrumental, with some brief non-lyrical vocals added in. It also has a very theatrical feel to it, by including more strings, heavy blaring synths, and pulsing drums. The vocals give it a very Middle Eastern feel, with Jared just doing runs, randomly going up and down at intervals that set it appart from Western music. I absolutely love it, and keep listening to it again and again. I especially love the ending, with the huge low synth speeding up until it abruptly ends and switches into the next song, "Bright Lights", which feels like the combination of Angels & Airwaves and U2 in terms of the vastness of the track, and the sounds utilized. I had heard this song before the album released, and immediately knew it was going to be one of my favorites, without a doubt. It is another more mellowed out track, but it doesn't get boring in the slightest, continuing to drive with it's anthem sound. I love the way the verses are constructed as far as the lyrics go, alternating between 2 lines and spacing out 4 words in a way that makes me want to listen again and again.
"Do or Die" is a song that caught me off guard on my first listen, lulling you with the simple synth line, and then exploding with drums, guitars, and blasting synths in all ranges. This song picks up the pace from "Bright Lights", and creates a lot more energy as well, making you want to get on your feet and jump and dance along. I can easily see this being popular at shows, with the whole crowd jumping up and down and singing along with the chorus. My favorite part is the bridge vocal line, which fairly high for Jared and is slightly distorted electronically, creating an unusual sound for the group. It's epic though, there's no question about it. It then slips into another instrumental, "Convergence", which utilizes some percussion and echoing guitars to create another soundtrack song. The entire album could really be the soundtrack of a movie, with all the huge sounds and layers of incredible instrumentation. "Convergence" doesn't really build, but serves as a nice interlude from the energetic and almost happy "Do or Die" to the more moody "Northern Lights", which begins with a picked acoustic guitar line, and a steady bass drum. They bring back the blaring synth used in "Pyres of Varanasi" as Jared comes in, thus creating that exotic feeling again. Jared's vocals soar high and low on this song, over electronic beats and piercing string lines. It's another favorite of mine, because of it's more dark nature and gritty sound. The synth used to introduce the bridge brought to mind Daft Punk's "Tron: Legacy" soundtrack, and after a few listens I noticed it is also layered into the choruses as well. The song slowly fades out line by line, in a very theatrical manner, until it switches into the last song of the album, "Despuis Le Debut", which begins and ends in completely different manners. It's almost like a few songs fit into a short amount of time. The first part consists of solely Jared and an acoustic guitar, which I thought served as a nice contrasting ending to an album heavily influenced by electronics, although I loved it all. About 50 seconds in, however, the song completely switches over, with synths of all kinds coming in to create an extremely epic film score piece. The strings start to come in, building the tension higher and higher. The drums pound, continuing to build the song even more until it all suddenly stops. Then, to finish it, it ends with an eerie sounding music box song that plays for about 30 seconds.
I loved this album; it's easily my favorite album by the group, and one of my favorites ever. It included so many fantastic elements and directions that got me excited, and I kept listening, craving more and more. It's a solid hit, and I know that 30 Seconds To Mars will continue to reach for fantastic ideas and sounds. 5/5
Track-list:
Birth - 2:07 (5/5)
Conquistador - 3:12 (5/5)
Up In The Air - 4:36 (5/5)
City Of Angels - 5:02 (4/5)
The Race - 3:40 (5/5)
End of All Days - 4:46 (4/5)
Pyres of Varanasi - 3:12 (5/5)
Bright Lights - 4:51 (5/5)
Do or Die - 4:08 (5/5)
Convergence - 2:01 (5/5)
Northern Lights - 4:44 (5/5)
Depuis Le Debut - 2:33 (5/5)
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